


who you are.

by PotterheadAvengerDemigod



Series: Introspective Drabbles [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Acceptance, Belonging, Gen, POV Second Person, Team Dynamics, Team Feels, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 19:07:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10542693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotterheadAvengerDemigod/pseuds/PotterheadAvengerDemigod
Summary: You don't have a very good history with sports, and you don't know why you tried out for this job.





	

You’ve always been the quiet girl in the corner in class, and the demanding, efficient and yet supportive stage manager outside of class, but now you’re someone completely different.

You don’t know how to deal with big, strong jocks, jocks that can easily toss you over their shoulders and cart you off to who knows where, jocks that could probably injure you without even really trying.

You don’t have a very good history with sports, and you don’t know why you tried out for this job.

But the team seems okay, you reflect, even if they are a little too loud, and intimidating at times. You know Derek from one of your classes, and that’s one of the reasons you’d taken his flyer, but the rest you haven’t seen before save passing them on the Quad or on the way to class.

Chow seems okay, excitable, but in a way that reminds you of your puppy back home, and the other two members of team in your year, Whiskey and Tango, you think their names are, are okay, if polar opposites.

Poindexter -Dex, you think the team calls him- scares you a little, with his constant grimaces and brooding, but then you see him bent over double, tears in his eyes and supporting himself on Chow’s shoulder, laughing uncontrollably at Derek, who’s upended an entire bowl of soup on himself and is pouting like a child. You think for a second that Poindexter is a horrible person to be laughing at Derek when he so obviously could be helping, but then you see the glint in Derek’s eyes that speaks of amusement and good cheer, and you realise that this is just the way their friendship expresses itself.

The current manager, the one you’re going to be replacing once she graduates, is a cool, closed off Vietnamese girl who’s even shorter than you, but has a presence that makes up for her height and then some. She’s nice, even though she’s a woman of a few words, and you like her.

She explains your role to you carefully and clearly, and doesn’t seem condescending when you ultimately make a mistake. She laughs -not meanly- and simply tells you gently where you went wrong, encourages you to try again.

You see her organising events flawlessly, planned down to the last second and pulling it off without a hitch, responsible and dedicated and everything a manager should be.

But you also see her hanging out with the rest of the team, laughing with unbridled joy when they hoist her onto their shoulders and parade around the room, or curl up next to the boys on the couch when they have movie nights, and you see a girl who’s small enough that she barely even reaches the bicep of the tallest guy, but can find it in herself to joke around with them, even order them around when they don’t do what’s right, and somehow you aren’t surprised when they listen.

You think that’s the kind of manager you’d like to be.

The first time you step in the house -Haus, you think it’s called?- after you’re appointed manager-in-training, you’re ambushed by the tiny blond player, the Southern one with a bright smile and more charm in his little toe than any other sports team you’ve met before, who pulls you into the kitchen and offers you a plate of the most beautiful pie you’ve ever seen.

You don’t particularly like pie all that much, but you take a bite of the pastry and think you could definitely make an exception for this one.

The pie’s great, you tell the blond guy -Bitty, they call him- and he beams so wide you swear the Sun shines from his very cheeks.

He tells you you’re welcome to have seconds, but you should probably hurry before the rest of the team gets back, or it’ll be gone before you even blink.

You laugh, and tell Bitty you’ve dealt with worse before, before you realise that he said “rest of the team” like you’re part of them.

Something tightens in your chest, something that feels a lot like happiness, but more teary. You smile, and take another slice.

You leave the Haus feeling lighter than you did before, and you feel like maybe you’ll fit in like Lardo does, or maybe just half as well as she does, because honestly if you got that much you’d already be grateful.

Then you peek out from backstage on Sweeney’s opening night, and you see a group of noisy boys shoving each other back and forth about four rows from the front, and you realise the hockey team has come to see your show.

They shove playfully at each other the whole time, teasing and joyful, which gains them no shortage of shushes and glares throughout the show, and some of them look almost half asleep in their seats. You know theatre isn’t for everyone, and you never even expected anyone from the team to show up despite your invitation, but when you look at them, Ransom’s drooping eyes and Chow’s nodding head, clearly trying to stay awake but failing, you can’t help but feel your heart grow three sizes in your chest as you register that they came for you, even though some of them didn’t even like theatre.

They crowd around you after the show, loud and rambunctious and making a complete scene, but you’re so happy you can feel the tears welling up and you can barely hear them singing your praises through the ringing in your ears.

You’re the quiet girl in the corner of the class, and the efficient stage manager in the theatre, and now you’re the newly minted, fully accepted manager-in-training of the Samwell Men’s Hockey team, and you think going for that interview might have been the best decision you ever made.

**Author's Note:**

> I had to do something for Ford, I love her so much!!! Also please great Ngozi let Ford be the Foxtrot we've been looking for all this time.
> 
> [My Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/_dreamdweller/)  
> Pop over and say hi!


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